ambler



(No Model.)

A. A. AMBLER.

Odometer.

ILPETERS. FHOYO-UTHOGRAPHER, WAEHINGTON. I) O,

UNITED STATES PATENT @FFFCEQ ARTHUR A. AMBLER, OF ST. CLOUD, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF TYVO-THIRDS OF HIS RIGHT TO ALEXANDER F. ROBERTSON AND ED\VARD K. JACQUES, OF SAME PLACE, ONE-THIRD TO EACH.

ODOMETER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 230,981, dated August 10, 1880.

Application filed April 16, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR ALEXANDER AMBLER, of St. Cloud,in the county of Stearns and State of Minnesota, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Odometers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to odometers, or instruments used in measuring and recording the distances traveled by vehicles of all kinds; and it consists in an endless flexible metal belt arranged to revolve in an oblong case, and combining with an endless ratchet-belt provided with a suitable stud and adapted to be revolved by a tripping-pawl a ratchet-wheel so arranged that the stud on the belt will act upon one of the teeth of the ratchet-wheel and cause it to rotate the distance of one tooth during every revolution of the belt, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

h'lyiuvention further consists in combining, with an endless ratchet-belt adapted to be re volved by a tripping-pawl, a ratchet-wheel, a disk provided with a cavity and tooth, and a lock-gear, wherebyone revolution of the ratchet-wheel and disk will revolve the gear the distance of one of its teeth and hold it locked at all other times, as will be more fully and in detail explained.

I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a perspective view, with the cover, hands, dials, &c., removed and a portion of the casing broken out to show the arrangement of the interior mechanism. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the outside of the odometer, showing the arrangement of the dials, 820. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the rear portion of the odometer. Fig. 4is a detached detail view of a portion of the ratchet-belt and ratchet-wheel,illustratin g the mannerin which the former acts upon the latter; Fig. 5, a

detached detail view of a portion of the ratchet-belt and the tripping-dog, showing a variation in the method of construction of the latter; Fig. 6, a plan view, with the cover removed, of aport-ion of the front end of the odometer, showing a variation in the method of operating the tripping-dog, &c. Fig. 7 is a (No model.)

rear elevation, reduced, of a portion of an axle and hub of a buggyhaving my device attached thereto, showing the method of applying the odometer.

Figs. 1, 2, 3, a, 5, and 6 (in the original drawings) are two times the natural size, while Fig. 7 is drawn to a scale of one and one half inehto the foot.

Ais the casing, in the forward end of which a bar or shaft, B, is arranged to project a short distance beyond the end, at a, and provided with a coiled spring, b, by which it is held outward, or returned outward when pushed in, as hereinafter explained.

In the opposite end of the casing A a pulley, C, is pivoted, around which an endless metal belt, D, is arranged, the other end of which extends backward about twothirds the length of the casing A, as shown in 1, 2, and 3, with its sides running against the sides of the casing. in this position the belt may be revolved easily by any power applied to its periphery, as hereinafter explained. The upper edge of this belt D will be supplied with ratchets or teeth 0, as shown, and provided with a spring-pawl, (1, arranged to catch upon the teeth 0 and prevent the belt being turned backward.

E is a rod connected to the shaft B, and having a spring-dog, 6, adapted to catch upon the teeth of the ratchet-belt, so that when the shaft B is pushed inward the dog 0 will be forced backward over the teeth 0, (the latter not being aifected by this action, as they are held by the pawl (1,) and when the spring I) forces the shaft B outward again the dog 0 will catch in the teeth cand revolve the belt D the distance of one of its teeth.

F is a ratchet-wheel mounted in the casing A upon a shaft, it, just forward of the pulley C, with one side close to one side of the belt D, so that a stud or pin, g, projecting from the inside of the belt D will catch upon one of the teeth of the ratchet-wheel F as the belt is carried past it when being revolved by the dog 0, and thus cause the ratchet-wheel to be revolved the distance of one of its teeth once in every revolution of the belt D.

Above the ratchet-wheel F, and upon the same shaft t, and arranged to revolve with it, is a circular disk, G, on the same plane as a lock-gear, H, which is mounted upon a shaft, 15 in the casin g A, and having ten (10) spaces h, and ten (10) concave teeth, 1, between them, the radii of the curves of said concaves being one-half of the diameter of the disk G, so that when placed with one of the concave teeth t' against the edge of the disk G the latter will be free to revolve, but the former will be locked and prevented from turning, as shown in Fig. 1.

At one point in the rim of the disk G a semicircular cavity, 7c, is formed, and a tooth, m, inserted therein and adapted to enter one of the spaces h of the gear H, and carry it around the distance of one of its teeth 1', the corners of the teeth 2' on either side of the space It being acted upon by the tooth m entering the cavity 75, which is made for that purpose, and thus bring the concave surface of the next tooth i in contact with the smooth portion of the disk G, thus revolving the gear H the distance of one of its teeth once in every revolution of the disk G, and holding them locked together at all other times.

I is a second disk, precisely like disk G, mounted on the same shaft t as the gear H, and arranged to revolve with it, and K is a second lock-gear, precisely like gear H, mounted upon a third shaft, 15 and adapted to be acted upon by the disk I and its tooth n and cavity 29, exactly as disk G and its tooth m and cavity It acts upon the gear H, so that one revolution of the gear H and disk G will move the gear I the distance of one of its teeth.

By this arrangement one revolution of the belt D revolves the ratchetwheel F and disk G the distance of one tooth, and one revolution ot'the ratchet-wheel and first disk revolves the first lock-gear, H, and second disk, I, one tooth, while one revolution of these latter revolve the second lock-gear, K, the distance of one of its teeth; so that it the ratchet-wheel F contains twenty teeth and each of the lockgears ten teeth, as in the drawings, twenty complete revolutions of the belt D will revolve the ratchetwheel once, and with it the disk G, and ten complete revolutions of the ratchetwheel F and disk G will revolve the gear H and disk I once, and ten complete revolutions of the gear H and disk I will revolve the gear K once; so that ten revolutions of the gear H and disk I, and one hundred revolutions of the disk G and ratchetwheel F, and two thousand revolutions of the belt I) will be necessary to revolve the gear K once.

The shafts t t t of these wheels and disks F, G, H, l, and K project upward through the cover M of the casin g A, and are provided with hands or pointers N N N, around each of which circles are formed in the face of the cover M, and graduated by figures from O to 9, to correspond to the teeth in the gears H and K and ratchet F, there being intermediate graduations between the figures on the dial above the latter to correspond to the extra ten teeth therein. By this means the hands N N N will denote on the face of the casing the positions of the wheels below, and also record the number of their revolutions.

The figures U T H on the dials in Fig. 2 denote units, tens, and hundreds.

A hinged cover, P, (see Fig. 7,) will be attached to the instrument to protect the dials and hands from injury.

To apply the instrument to vehicles, a small cum, 4, is attached to the inside of the hub L, (see Fi 7,) and the odometer secured to the 'aXle R by clamps of any suitable kind in such a position that the revolution of the wheel will cause the cam r to strike the end a of the shaft B, and force it inward once at every revolution, thus acting, as before described, upon the endless belt D and train of wheels F G H I K. The circumference of the vehiclewheel to which the instrument is to be applied is first carefully measured, and the number of times this dimension is contained in the number of feet in a certain distance (ordinarily two thousand six hundred and forty, or onehalf mile, which is the most convenient) ascertained. Then the ratchet-belt D, which is first formed in a long strip of springsteel or other suitable metal, with teeth 0 about one twenty-fourth of an inch long, is cut off at the tooth corresponding to the number of times required for the driving-wheel to revolve in traveling the one-half mile or other certain distance above referred to, and the ends brazed or otherwise secured together to form it into a smooth jointless belt. The belt is then placed around the pulley O, and along the sides of the casing A, as shown, and the dog and pawl d 0 set in place.

By this means it will be seen that one revolution of the belt D will be equivalent to onehalf mile travel of the vehicle; hence every time the hand N on the ratchet-wheel shaft t is moved the distance of one graduation of the first dial the vehicle will have traveled onehalf a mile, and every time the hand N makes one full circuit of the first dial the second hand, N will have moved the distance of one graduation of its dial, denoting that the vehicle has traveled twenty half miles (there being twenty teeth in the ratchet F) or ten full miles, and when the second hand, N has made one full circuit, the third hand, N will have moved the distance of one of the graduations of its dial, thus denoting that the "ehicle has traveled one hundred full miles; and then, when the third hand, N has completed one full circuit of its dial, the vehicle will have traveled one thousand full miles.

By my arrangement the parts are contained within a very small space, the whole casing not exceeding seven-eighths of an inch in width, three-eighths of an inch in thickness, and six inches in length, to measure and record one thousand one hundred and ten miles trar'el; and by adding one more lock-gear and one more toothed disk, like H and I, and one more hand and dial,the scope of theinstruinent IIO may be increased ten times, or adapted to measure and record eleven thousand one hundred and ten miles, and only adding threefourths of an inch to the length and nothing to the width or thickness.

In some cases the hub L, after some time of wear, becomes loose and acquires end play, and this frequently causes the cam r to force the shaft B inward farther at some times than at others. To prevent this irregularity of stroke from affecting the instrument injuriously, the under side of the point of the springdog 6 is made inclined, so that when the shaft B is pushed in too far the dog a will simply run up on the pawl 61, and not affect the belt D, as the action of the dog on the belt is exerted entirely by its outward stroke; and the shaft B being stopped by the pin a from going beyond a certain point, the belt D will be revolved just so far at every stroke of the shaft, no matter how far inward it is pushed by the cam 1', provided, of course, that it is pushed inward a trifle more than the length of one of the teeth of the belt D, care being taken in attaching the odometer to the axle to adjust it so that the stroke shall be sufficient to do the work.

Fig. 5 shows a slight variation in the method of connecting the spring-dog e to the bar E, which consists in extending the main bar E the full length and attaching a small inclined spring, 1), beneath its inner end, instead of the long spring 6, (shown in Figs. 1 and 3,) and in forming an additional slot with an inclined edge through the plate supporting the pawl (I, so that when the shaft B is pushed in too far, as before described, the inclined point of the dog 0 will run up the inclined edge of the slot, instead of up the pawl (1, thereby preventing wear or injury to the latter.

Fig. 6 shows a slight variation of the manner of arranging the shaft B and tripping-dog and bar E c. In this arrangement the bar E is extended nearly to the front end of the casing A, as shown, and provided with a spring, 20, which throws it backward, and a slot, 00, acting in conjunction with a fixed pin, 00 in the casing A. to regulate the throw of the bar E, the slot at" being just long enough to allow the bar E to be moved back and forth a little more than one of the teeth of the belt D. Projecting from the side of the bar E, near its outer end, is a pin or stud, 3 adapted to be acted upon by a similar stud, y projecting from the side of the shaft B.

The spring 10 will be just strong enough to move the bar E backward, but will be much weaker than the large spring 1) around the shaft B, so that when the latter is forced inward by the cam r the spring will carry the bar E inward, and cause the stud y to follow up the stud 3 as far as the slot 00 will allow, while the shaft B is free to be pushed as much farther as it will go without affecting the bar E, as the slot and pin a" will control the stroke of the dog 0, and then, when the shaft B is released, the spring b will cause it to move outward until its stud 1 engages with the stud y on the barE, and moves the latter outward again, and thus cause the dog 0 to act upon the belt D. By this arrangement the travel of the bar E is the same, no matter what the throw of the shaft B may be.

The endless ratehet-beltD is a very important part of my invention, as by forming it with the same number of teeth as the circumference of the wheel of the vehicle to which the odometer is attached is contained in any certain distance, the odometer may be adjusted to operate upon any sized wheel. I

Under some circumstances it may be found desirable to arrange the endless belt D in a circular form and group the disks and lockgears within it.

The instrument may be applied to any moving vehicle or machinery, such as carriages, buggies, railroad or street cars, 850., or in any other place where it is desired to ascertain the distance traveled or speed run within a certain time, &c.

WVhat I claim as new is 1. The combination, with an endless ratchet belt, D, provided with a stud, g, and adapted to be revolved by a tripping-pawl, c, of a ratchet-wheel, F, so arranged that the stud y will act upon one of the teeth of the ratchetwheel and revolve it the distance of one of its teeth once in every revolution of the belt, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with an endless ratchetbelt, D, adapted to be revolved by a trippingpawl, of a ratchet-wheel, I disk G, provided with the cavity It and tooth m, and lock-gear H, whereby one revolution of the ratchetwheel and disk will revolve the gear the distance of one of its teeth t, and hold it locked at all other times, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ARTHUR ALEXANDER AMBLER.

YVitnesses (J. N. WOODWARD, LoUIs FEEsER. 

